RENNON SPRINGS--
--the name today evokes simple images. A white church on a knoll ... a rustic bridge ...
breathtaking scenery ... sulphur-saline water. Drennon is unpretentious in outward
appearance, but with a past that is as multicolored as the spring waters that transcend
the generations.

Drennon Springs' past dates back to
prehistoric times when a shallow sea covering Kentucky receded and left salt deposits.
Later the ground water mixed with these salt deposits and carried it to the surface. The
salt spring became known as a "lick" as mammoth, buffalo, and deer, in search of
salt, trampled a road wide enough for two wagons to travel side by side.

With the animals came the Moundbuilders, a
prehistoric Indian tribe, in search of food. An 1832 article reported that "Drennon's
Lick has bones and mounds." No one knows when the Moundbuilders left or for how long
the area was without inhabitants. When the first white people in this area arrived it was
claimed by four Indian tribes. The Shawnee who lived north of the Ohio were the closest
tribe to this area. They were the group most dreaded by early settlers and surveyors who
had been sent out to investigate the land.

The McAfee Brothers left Virginia in 1773
to locate land in Kentucky. They spent several days at Big Bone Lick. While there, an
Indian traded his knowledge of another lick to Jacob Drennon and Matthew Bracken.
Pretending they were going hunting, they discovered the Lick on July 6, 1773. Four mineral
springs were found by Drennon during his time at the "Great Salt Lick" in 1773.
Drennon and Bracken were condemned for their behavior of taking advantage of their fiends
and bribing an Indian when the remainder of the McAfee party arrived two days later.
Although Drennon gave his name to the Lick no steps were taken to claim the
property--possibly due to the dishonor he had received.

Colonel George Rogers Clark, who "won
the west" for the USA, was the first settler at the salt springs of Drennon. After
seeing no survey marks on trees he made inquiries about the land. He was especially
interested in the salt-making possibilities. When he found that the land had not been
claimed, he built a cabin there and planted corn in a clearing in 1776. The Land Court of
Kentucky County, Virginia, granted him 400 acres and added an adjoining 1,000 acres for
land improvement. Prior to 1779, Clark built a "log fort" at Drennon Springs. It
was a temporary residence for surveyors, hunters, explorers, and salt boilers. The
salt-boiling had begun about 1775 and was continued by different groups. The saline
content of the springs was light compared to many others in central Kentucky and the
manufacturing process was discontinued when the price of salt made it unprofitable.

In 1780 an Archibald Dickerson thought he
discovered a silver vein in the vicinity of two of the springs. It was really sulfide of
lead. The mining of lead ore for its silver content began on the Drennon Springs vein in
1783. Willard Jillson, a former state geologist, identifies this as the "first lead
mine 'in Kentucky." Desired results were not achieved so work stopped until around
1815.

The pioneers learned from friendly Indians
the use that they had made of the sulphur water from one of the springs. The medicinal use
of the waters soon spread beyond the neighborhood. In 1833 Asiatic Cholera spread
throughout Kentucky. The proprietor advertised that Drennon Springs was the "safest
retreat from cholera in Kentucky." By 1840 the Springs were known not only as refuge
for the sick but a site of entertainment for those who were desiring a better social life
after putting their economic affairs in order. Large numbers of Kentuckians were joined by
wealthy cotton and sugar cane planters who came to avoid the hot weather and yellow fever
prevalent in the southern summers. Trade between the regions was facilitated and the
Springs and the marriage market became synonymous terms.

A. O. Smith purchased the property, spent
about $100,000 on improvements including several multi-level structures for housing and
planted trees on newly terraced land. In 1848 the owner announced in the Louisville Daily
Courier that they could accommodate 800 persons. Innumerable governors, social headliners
of the day, and the grandchildren of Henry Clay came to visit. At the height of the
resort's popularity in 1849 cholera broke out. The hotel complex was abandoned within 24
hours. Faith was lost in the miraculous waters. For two years the hotel lay idle.

Owner A.0. Smith sold the site and
buildings to the Western Military Institute (WMI)--a private military school originally
established at Georgetown--that was seeking more adequate housing. There were 216 students
from fifteen to eighteen southern and midwestern states on the cadet roster. James G.
Blaine taught math in 1851 from February to December. He later became Speaker of the U.S.
House of Representatives, U.S. Secretary of State, and a candidate for President. During
the time the military school was at Drennon, an effort was made to introduce the
grape-growing industry on the southern slopes of Drennon. Native Swiss vinegrowers were
imported and settled in log chalets among the hills to teach the basics of the industry in
the area, which was so similar to the wine regions of France and Switzerland. The school
was beginning to be known as the "West Point of the South" when cholera broke
out. Enrollment decreased considerably. Finally, in the fall of 1854, the WMI moved to
Tennessee and in April of 1855 became part of the University of Nashville.

The barracks were used as a Union
Recruiting Station during the Civil War and many skirmishes between the Union and
Confederate forces took place around the Springs. The main buildings were destroyed by
fire toward the end of the Civil War. Collins' Historical Sketches in 1874 indicated that
the March 23, 1865 fire was the "work of an incendiary."

Invalids continued to come and five
following the war. In 1890, a second hotel was built close to the Blue Sulphur Spring. The
Commissioner of Henry County sold this property in 1894.

In 1900 a third hotel was built
overlooking the White Sulphur Spring. Bathhouses and tall glasses of sulphur water before
breakfast were provided to the guests as well as testimonials from leading physicians and
medical schools. The fact that water from the Blue Sulphur Spring won the highest award at
the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition was prominent in all advertising. During this time
the water was shipped to Louisville, Lexington, Cincinnati, and Tennessee. Various
amusements entertained the guests. But with the coming of automobiles and good roads,
picture shows, and other more modem amusements, the Springs became less popular.
Regardless, the hotel was destroyed by fire in 1909 when an epidemic of chickenpox broke
out.

Drennon Springs does evoke simple images
today. But, when placed in an historical perspective, there is so very much more.